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By Mohammed Marmaduke
Pickthall
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The Farewell
Pilgrimage
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A view of
Mt. Arafat on which the Prophet gave his famous
sermon
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In the tenth year of the
Hijrah the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) went to Makkah as
a pilgrim for the last time – his “pilgrimage of farewell” it is called – when
from Mt. ‘Arafat he preached to an enormous throng of pilgrims. He reminded them
of all the duties Islam enjoined upon them, and that they would one day have to
meet their Lord, who would judge each one of them according to his work. At the
end of the discourse, he asked: “Have I not conveyed the Message?” And from that
great multitude of men who a few months or years before had all been
conscienceless idolaters the shout went up: “O Allah! Yes!” The Prophet said: “O
Allah! Be Thou witness!”
Illness and Death of
the Prophet
It was during that
last pilgrimage that the surah entitled “Succor” was revealed, which he received
as an announcement of approaching death. Soon after his return to Al-Madinah he
fell ill. The tidings of his illness caused dismay throughout Arabia and anguish
to the folk of Al-Madinah, Makkah and Ta’if, the hometowns. At early dawn on the
last day of his earthly life he came out from his room beside the mosque at
Al-Madinah and joined the public prayer, which Abu Bakr had been leading since
his illness. And there was great relief among the people, who supposed him well
again.
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“For him who worshipped Muhammad, Muhammad is dead. But as for
him who worships Allah, Allah is alive and dieth
not.”
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When, later in the
day, the rumor grew that he was dead. Omar threatened those who spread the rumor
with dire punishment, declaring it a crime to think that the Messenger of God
could die. He was storming at the people in that strain when Abu Bakr came into
the mosque and overheard him. Abu Bakr went to the chamber of his daughter
Ayeshah, where the Prophet lay. Having ascertained the fact, and kissed the
dead-man’s forehead, he went back into the mosque. The people were still
listening to Omar, who was saying that the rumor was a wicked lie, that the
Prophet who was all in all to them could not be dead. Abu Bakr went up to Omar
and tried to stop him by a whispered word. Then, finding he would pay no heed,
Abu Bakr called to the people, who, recognizing his voice, left Omar and came
crowding round him. He first gave praise to Allah, and then said: “O people! Lo!
As for him who worshipped Muhammad, Muhammad is dead. But as for him who
worships Allah, Allah is Alive and dieth not.” He then recited the verse of the
Qur’an:
(And Muhammad is but a
messenger, messengers the like of whom have passed away before him. Will it be
that, when he dieth or is slain, ye will turn back on your heels? He who turneth
back doth no hurt to Allah, and Allah will reward the thankful.)
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The Qur’an has been very carefully
preserved
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“And,” says the
narrator: an eye-witness, “it was as if the people had not known that such a
verse had been revealed till Abu Bakr recited it.” And another witness tells how
Omar used to say: “Directly I heard Abu Bakr recite that verse my feet were cut
from beneath me and I fell to the ground, for I knew that Allah’s messenger was
dead, May Allah bless and keep him!”
All the surahs of the
Qur’an had been recorded in writing before the Prophet’s death, and many Muslims
had committed the whole Qur’an to memory. But the written surahs were dispersed
among the people; and when, in a battle which took place during the Caliphate of
Abu Bakr – that is to say, within two years of the Prophet’s death – a large
number of those who knew the whole Qur’an by heart were killed, a collection of
the whole Qur’an was made and put in writing. In the Caliphate of Othman, all
existing copies of surahs were called in, and an authoritative version, based on
Abu Bakr’s collection and the testimony of those who had the whole Qur’an by
heart, was compiled exactly in the present form and order, which is regarded as
traditional and as the arrangement of the Prophet himself, the Caliph Othman and
his helpers being Comrades of the Prophet and the most devout students of the
Revelation. The Qur’an has thus been very carefully preserved.
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